2021 IT Priorities Report - An in-depth look at the key challenges, opportunities and technology intelligence imperative facing today's IT leaders ...
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2021 IT Priorities Report An in-depth look at the key challenges, opportunities and technology intelligence imperative facing today’s IT leaders
Table of Contents Introduction 3 Key Findings 4 Defining Technology Intelligence 5 The Biggest Challenges of 2020 6 The State of Employee Enablement 9 The Evolving Risk Landscape 13 A Deeper Dive on Vendor Audits 16 An Improved Dynamic Between IT & Employees 18 Considering 2021 Priorities 21 The Technology Intelligence Imperative 24 Technology Intelligence & The New Normal 30 Conclusion 36 Appendix 38
Introduction
For years, IT leaders have faced a complicated landscape of priorities, but 2020 has been truly
unprecedented in terms of the competing pressures faced by IT teams. Enabling remote work,
adopting new technologies, managing security risks and balancing budgets became both
more critical and more complex than ever before. As they continue to deal with high levels of
disruption and uncertainty from Covid-19, IT leaders are now faced with setting priorities for
2021.
How will hybrid work environments, disruptive technologies, increased security threats and
economic concerns impact IT? Will organizations fundamentally change the way they manage
their IT assets, find value in their technology, support business agility and remain resilient?
To better gauge how IT leaders are setting their agendas and handling these new challenges,
Snow Software surveyed 1,000 IT decision makers and 3,000 workers from the United
States, United Kingdom, Germany and Australia on how technology is currently used and
where there may be gaps in alignment between technology resources and business objectives.
We set out to determine:
• How is IT currently using and managing technology? Where are their most
pressing challenges?
• Are there differences in how IT and employees perceive and use technology? Is
this creating a more perilous risk landscape?
• Can the current state of technology investment and use provide a roadmap to
developing priorities for 2021?
• Are there commonalities between organizations that have strong visibility and
management of their technology resources? How could this impact the larger IT
agenda?
• How much has Covid-19 impacted the role of technology in business?
Ultimately, our findings showed that having strong technology intelligence – a complete
view, understanding and management of IT investments – is interwoven with organizations’
confidence to weather events like Covid-19 and drive innovation forward.
Key Findings
1. The IT landscape is changing rapidly, and these changes are compounded by the challenges of
enabling the workforce in new ways. IT leaders reported that their biggest challenges over the
past twelve months were managing cybersecurity threats (43%), implementing new technologies
(40%) and supporting remote work (39%). Overall, complexity continues to increase as spend on
all technologies – software, hardware, SaaS and cloud – was up across the board. It’s no surprise
then that for 63% of IT leaders, technology management has also become more difficult over the
past 12 months.
2. As IT environments become more complex, employee enablement must be a top priority. While
41% of workers report that access to technology has improved, IT leaders overestimate how easy
it is for teams to procure the software, applications and cloud resources they need compared to
employees by 22 points. This provides an opening for shadow IT and a lack of comprehensive
governance.
3. Both IT leaders (72%) and employees (52%) agree that security is the most pressing business
problem caused by unaccounted for and unmanaged technology. It seems that IT’s continuous
efforts to reinforce security best practices may finally be paying off – it was the only area where
over half of both groups recognized the potential risk to their organization. But there is a lower
level of awareness for additional issues, especially among employees, with 16% believing
unaccounted for and unmanaged technologies does not cause any business problems whatsoever.
4. Employee attitudes towards IT have improved over the last year, with 50% of employees noting
they had more empathy, had more respect or were more grateful for IT. Yet employees still report
some significant IT challenges over the past 12 months. Their biggest frustrations were dealing
with old and outdated technology (37%), getting support for remote work (33%) and getting
support tickets resolved (31%).
5. Now more than ever, IT is facing a difficult set of business priorities. Tied at 38% each, the top
three IT priorities for organizations in 2020 were reducing security risks, reducing IT spend and
adopting new technologies. Yet these areas of focus can often be in conflict with one another. If IT
leaders want to balance these priorities moving forward, they need a more advanced approach for
managing their technology environment.
6. There is a clear correlation between strong technology intelligence and impactful IT. This was
especially striking when it came to innovation: 100% of IT leaders with mature technology
intelligence programs said innovation was a strategic priority for their organization, versus 75% of
other respondents. It is likely that innovative companies have prioritized technology intelligence,
but also that technology intelligence enables innovation. Overall, these leaders indicated they are
better positioned to tackle their top priorities and challenges.
7. Leaders with mature technology intelligence are also more confident in their organization’s
outlook. 79% of IT leaders with mature technology intelligence strongly agreed that their
organization was prepared to weather current global events, yet just 32% of other respondents
felt the same way. Across the board, IT leaders noted that during Covid-19 their traditional
challenges have become more heightened and intertwined. However, those with mature
technology intelligence felt more empowered and were able to pivot more successfully,
highlighting the benefits of a holistic approach to technology asset management.
Defining Technology Intelligence
One term you will see us use throughout this report is technology intelligence. So, what exactly is
technology intelligence, and why is it important to understand its current state?
When organizations achieve complete visibility and comprehensive manageability of all their
technology resources, IT leaders have the power to make more informed and strategic decisions
to create agility, growth and innovation. This holistic approach to IT management is technology
intelligence.
But gaining a total understanding of what is technology is purchased, used or accessed is incredibly
difficult. Consider the landscape most businesses face today:
• Many applications and cloud services can be spun up in minutes with a credit card
• Software licenses can easily be overstretched or underused, causing potential for
significant fees from vendors during renewal periods
• While the overall cost of a laptop or portable device is relatively cheap these
days, the data on those devices is important to track and secure, as mandated by
many data privacy regulations
• Supply chain shortages caused by the global pandemic created challenges for
organizations looking to acquire more devices
Overall, the technology landscape that many enterprises, public agencies, universities and even non-
profits face is increasingly complex – and in many cases very expensive, despite promises of a simpler,
cheaper and more effective outcome.
Even companies that are “born in the cloud” face similar challenges when it comes to gaining clarity
into and governance over their investments. Public cloud services were billed as agile and scalable,
but the assumption is that without their previously significant investment in hardware, organizations
could dramatically reduce their overall infrastructure bills. For many, the benefit of public cloud is the
additional services they offer, not the value-based pricing. And the reality is that most organizations
will continue to embrace a hybrid cloud environment for the foreseeable future.
This landscape that organizations confront is everchanging, and more technologies have accelerated
into the mainstream as a result of the response to the global pandemic. Visibility across all these assets
– software, hardware, SaaS and cloud – has never been so critical. Technology intelligence can help IT
leaders successfully adapt to this new normal and ensure their investments are working for them.
Chapter I The Biggest Challenges of 2020
IT teams are consistently under pressure as they massive shift to new ways of working for many
deal with business-critical issues. It’s no secret organizations, as well as the disruptions some
that IT teams have had to juggle a lot over the last industries like retail have undergone in a short
decade and increasingly been asked to handle period of time, it’s not surprising that these are the
more, from remediating cybersecurity threats top three challenges IT faced in 2020.
to enabling employee productivity and driving
digital transformation. While the events of 2020 Coming in a close fourth, 37% of IT leaders
have been felt across all industries and functions, also said cloud migration and integration was a
it especially impacted IT and brought about a challenge, followed by properly training staff (32%)
whole new set of challenges that upended normal and difficulty managing and governing technology
operations. (28%). Only 27% noted unexpected technology
costs and 23% indicated budget cuts were issues,
We asked IT leaders to select their team’s three demonstrating the important role technology has
biggest challenges over the past 12 months. From played in terms of enabling businesses to forge
the list, 43% said addressing cybersecurity threats through some of the more difficult elements of this
was the most pressing issue. This was followed past year.
by implementing new technologies (40%) and
supporting remote work (39%). Considering the
What wereyour
What were yourITorganization’s
team’s biggest biggest
IT challenges
challenges overover the 12
the past past 12 months?
months?
Cybersecurity threats 43%
Implementing new technologies 40%
Supporting remote work 39%
Cloud migration and integration 37%
Properly training staff 32%
Difficulty managing and governing technology 28%
Unexpected technology costs 27%
Budget cuts 23%
Lack of automation 21%
None of the above 4%
0% 10% 20% 30% 40%
Source: Snow Software, 2021 IT Priorities Survey
7 Snow Software
Solving for these challenges can require new When asked if the organization’s investment in
technologies, time and agreement across various various types of technology had changed over the
stakeholder groups within the organization. In past 12 months, IT leaders indicated they had
short, many are not solved overnight, even without increased spending on cloud infrastructure (76%),
the variability of 2020. Therefore it is no surprise SaaS applications (71%), hardware (66%) and
that technology investments increased across the on-premises software (62%). The only notable
board. area of reduced investment was on-prem software,
with 11% of leaders reporting they had cut spend
in that area.
How has your organization’s investment in the following
technologies changed over the past 12 months?
Source: Snow Software, 2021 IT Priorities Survey
While increased investment in technology Whether this is feasible or not will depend on
resources is typically seen as a positive, it is clear expectations around remote work and the pace
that many IT leaders and teams had to make of digital transformation. In fact, 76% of IT
decisions to enable remote workforces early in the decision makers agreed that the pace of digital
pandemic – and the question remains if they would transformation has dramatically increased at their
have made these same decisions or investments organizations in 2020. Interestingly enough, only
had they known the duration and impact of 55% of employees agreed with this assessment.
Covid-19. When considering 2021 priorities, these
investments may be called into question in favor of Given these trends, it is not surprising that 63% of
larger cost cutting and optimization initiatives. IT leaders indicated that technology management
had become more difficult over the past 12
months.
8 Snow Software
Chapter II The State of Employee Enablement
As we look at how technology management We asked employees if they believed their access
in particular has become more difficult for IT to software, apps and cloud services had improved
teams, it is worth considering how employees are over the past 12 months. Overall the sentiment was
accessing these resources and how that aligns positive – 41% said access to the technology they
with IT’s understanding of these activities. Even need had improved over the past year and 48%
in an era of self-service apps and business-led indicated that it has stayed the same. Despite the
technology purchases, IT plays a critical role in extreme disruptions of 2020, only 4% said that it
ensuring employees not only have the tools they had gotten worse.
need but also use them, and any associated data,
responsibly.
Do you believe that access to the software, apps and cloud services
Do you believe that access to the software, apps and cloud services
you need to do your job has improved in the past 12 months?
you need to do your job has improved in the past 12 months?
Yes, it has improved
It has stayed the same
7% No, it has gotten worse
4% I don’t know
41%
48%
Source: Snow Software, 2021 IT Priorities Survey
10 Snow SoftwareWhat
How were
does yourITorganization’s
asking for permissionbiggest
to get work
software, applications
IT challenges or past
over the cloud12
services make you feel?
months?
I don't mind 35%
It makes me feel safe 27%
It is reassuring 21%
It is frustrating 16%
It makes me feel watched 15%
It makes me nervous 8%
It is beneath me 7%
I never ask permission 10%
0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35%
Source: Snow Software, 2021 IT Priorities Survey
The ability to access tech tools looks promising, Despite potential hurdles in purchasing technology,
but it appears IT is overestimating how easy it is for 35% of employees said they don’t mind asking IT
teams and individuals to actually get the software, for permission to get software, applications and
applications and cloud resources they want. While cloud services. In fact, 27% said it made them feel
75% of IT leaders believe it’s easy for departments safe and 21% felt reassured. This data in particular
and teams to procure software, applications and seems to indicate progress in enablement and
cloud, just 53% of employees agree. When asked collaboration between IT and employees. However,
about individual employees, the numbers dip the potential for blind spots across an organization’s
slightly for both groups, with 70% of IT leaders IT environment still exist, due in part to the 10% of
believing it is easy for individuals to procure employees who never ask for permission.
technology versus 50% of employees.
11 Snow SoftwareIf you can only get work software, applications or cloud services with
How does asking IT for permission to get work software,
IT’s permission,
applications how services
or cloud does that impact
impact your
your ability
ability to your
to do do your
job?job?
It doesn't impact my ability to do my job 26%
It keeps me from putting the company at risk 20%
It makes it easier to do my job 19%
It positively impcts my productivity 16%
It slows me down & impacts deadlines 14%
It makes it more difficult to do my job 11%
It negatively impacts my productivity 9%
I don’t have to ask IT for permission 10%
0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25%
Source: Snow Software, 2021 IT Priorities Survey
In terms of effectiveness and productivity, 46% This is a good reminder that even with the
of workers indicated that using IT approved continued shift in purchasing decisions from IT
technologies had some positive impact on their to business leaders, IT is critical to employee
ability to do their job. That cohort included 20% enablement and governance. Teams should
who said it kept them from putting the company at work on policies and processes that account for
risk, 19% who indicated it made it easier to do their decentralized IT and support self-service while still
jobs and 16% who said it positively impacts their providing guidance for employees. By becoming
productivity. Another 26% said it doesn’t impact trusted advisors and collaborators to the business,
their ability to do their job one way or the other. IT can address enablement while also ensuring they
These figures demonstrate that IT enablement have the necessary oversight to reduce risk across
initiatives may be moving in the right direction. the organization.
12 Snow SoftwareChapter III The Evolving Risk Landscape
While the current complexity of the technology 72% of IT leaders and 52% of employees agreed
landscape is creating some hurdles for IT, especially that security is the biggest issue. But awareness
when trying to understand usage and offer of additional problems dropped sharply after that,
appropriate enablement, additional challenges with 16% of employees saying they don’t believe
loom large. The most notable one is managing risk. unaccounted for and unmanaged technology
cause any problems whatsoever. Considering the
We asked both IT leaders and employees about emphasis on remote working in 2020, this may
the most pressing business problem created by be one of many things that are exacerbating the
unaccounted for and unmanaged technology. potential risk landscape.
What do you believe are the most pressing business problems caused
by unaccounted for and unmanaged technology for your organization?
IT Leaders Employees Difference
Security 72% 52% -20
Privacy 55% 42% -13
Financial Risk 42% 28% -14
Compliance 41% 25% -16
Legal Risk 35% 24% -11
Reputational Risk 28% 16% -12
No Issues 3% 16% +13
Source: Snow Software, 2021 IT Priorities Survey
Based on this data, it seems likely that IT’s focus Risk is not just about security though. In addition
on cybersecurity training and policies has had a to the myriad of impacts from a data breach,
positive impact – it is the only area where over unmanaged technology can lead to soaring IT
50% of both groups recognized the potential expenses, unexpected true-up costs, government
risk. When asked if they have received adequate fines, contractual breaches and more. With the
training on how to securely use the technology uncertain and somewhat unpredictable nature
resources they have access to, 64% of employees of the global markets in 2020, it’s essential that
agreed, 18% were neutral and only 11% disagreed. organizations consider how they are managing
Considering that 68% of IT leaders reported that their technology stack and the data stored on it to
their organizations are currently facing a higher level appropriately mitigate an increase in these risks.
of security risk, continued focus on this area will be
critical in 2021.
14 Snow SoftwareWhile a majority of IT leaders felt their organization Effective visibility and governance can significantly
was managing, monitoring or securing their reduce overall risk for organizations. As IT leaders
technology resources effectively, employees move away from the idea that shadow IT is a
seemed slightly less confident. When asked about prevalent threat and just how business is done
if their organization: today, other market forces like global data privacy
regulations like the General Data Protection
• Took appropriate measures to store and Regulation (GDPR) set minimum requirements for
secure sensitive data – 80% of IT leaders how organizations must manage, secure and handle
vs. 74% of employees agreed sensitive data, understand how activities impact
the security posture of their network, and more that
• Monitor and manage software, application require a degree of control.
and cloud usage – 83% of IT leaders vs.
69% of employees agreed
• Tracks and manages work devices – 82%
of IT leaders vs. 68% of employees agreed
15 Snow SoftwareA Deeper Dive on Vendor Audits
One area of risk that deserves additional attention audited by another vendor, with write-ins including
in 2021 is audits. Overall, 87% of IT leaders Amazon, Cisco and Micro Focus.
reported that they were audited by a software
vendor in the past 12 months. In terms of which Yet only 51% of IT leaders say they are concerned
vendors are auditing the most, Microsoft came in about vendors audits occurring in the next 12
number one accounting for 60% of audits, followed months, with 21% saying they are unconcerned and
closely by IBM (40%), Oracle (34%), Adobe (31%) 23% reporting they are neutral.
and SAP (30%). Just 1% of leaders said they were
Which vendors have audited your
Which vendors have audited your
organization in the past 12
organization in the past 12 months?
Microsoft 60%
IBM 40%
Oracle 34%
Adobe 31%
SAP 30%
We have not been audited 12%
in the past 12 months
Other 1%
I don't know 1%
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60%
Source: Snow Software, 2021 IT Priorities Survey
16 Snow SoftwareHow concerned are you about vendors
How concerned are you about
audits in the next 12 months?
vendors audits in the next 12 months?
US UK Germany Australia
70%
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
1 - Not Concerned 2 3 4 5 - Very Concerned
Source: Snow Software, 2021 IT Priorities Survey
These answers were dramatically different in the Based on the trends that followed the global
US – 81% of American IT leaders are concerned economic crisis in 2008, that is not a safe
and just 10% were unconcerned. Germany was also assumption – vendors actually increased their audit
surprising, with more IT leaders saying they were activity in an attempt to recoup lost revenue, and
unconcerned (40%) versus concerned (30%). The that may foreshadow similar behavior in 2021
US did report higher rates of being audited over and beyond. Considering only 41% of IT leaders
the previous 12 months at 93%, but that doesn’t strongly agreed that they could quickly gather
account for the dramatic difference in concern. One information and confidently defend their position
interpretation of the data is that US IT leaders don’t for a vendor audit, this is an area where IT leaders
anticipate vendors will change their behavior much need to devote more attention, especially in light of
in the next 12 months, whereas those in the UK, increased and unexpected technology caused by
Germany and Australia may believe vendors will the pandemic.
back away from audit activity due to current events.
17 Snow SoftwareChapter IV An Improved Dynamic Between IT & Employees
The relationship between employees and IT has be Overall, 50% of employees said they had more
fraught in recent years. Easy access to applications empathy, had more respect or were more grateful
and cloud instances compounded old tensions for their IT department. IT does seem to be
and created new issues for IT. While there has overestimating this positive shift in attitude,
been progress to mend fences between these two but they also overestimated negative shifts in
groups, the global pandemic may have accelerated attitude as well – 28% of IT leaders said they think
that good will. employees were more frustrated or believed IT
was lagging behind, yet only 22% of employees
Many employees report that sentiment towards reported that.
IT has improved significantly over the past year.
How have employee attitudes towards
How
IT have employee
changed over the attitudes towards
past 12 months?
IT changed over the past 12 months?
Employee's Feeling IT's Perception
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
More More More More More Lagging No None
Empathy Respect Grateful Aware Frustrated Behind Change of the
above
Source: Snow Software, 2021 IT Priorities Survey
19 Snow SoftwareWhat were your biggest challenges when
What were your biggest challenges when
dealing with IT over the past 12 months?
dealing with IT over the past 12 months?
Dealing with old and outdated technology 37%
Getting support for remote work 33%
Difficult getting support tickets resolved 31%
Overly strict security procedures 29%
Unable to get proper training 27%
Lack of self-service options 26%
Unable to get technology due to budget cuts 24%
Difficulty gaining access to the cloud 19%
None of the above 25%
0% 10% 20% 30% 40%
Source: Snow Software, 2021 IT Priorities Survey
When asked about the biggest challenges While the shift towards more positive sentiment
employees have faced with IT over the past 12 between IT and employees is overall an important
months, their top three issues were dealing with old development, there’s a question about how long
and outdated technology (37%), getting support for this will last. It is very plausible that attitudes could
remote work (33%) and difficulty getting support shift again in 2021, especially as IT leaders make
tickets resolved (31%). difficult decisions about cost cutting measures
which could impact new technology investment or
continued support for remote work.
20 Snow SoftwareChapter V Considering 2021 Priorities
The sudden disruption and lingering uncertainty priorities are likely competing in importance, but
of 2020 has made defining priorities for 2021 they may actually be in conflict with one another.
especially difficult for IT leaders. For many
organizations, next year’s priorities will closely For example, implementing and integrating new
mirror those from the past year as they continue technologies can be expensive and open up new
to fight against many of the same headwinds. security risks. If reducing IT costs is achieved
However, it appears that the tension between these with blunt instruments like cuts and freezes,
priorities, and the importance of achieving all of that hobbles new technology purchases and key
them in concert, will be heightened. security investments. Similarly, an overly restrictive
security posture may limit the introduction of new
Among the top IT priorities for this past year, technologies and require significant budget to
reducing security risks, reducing IT spend and support. This is a difficult balancing act during the
adopting new technologies all tied for the top best of times and will require a more holistic and
slot at 38% each. Not only does that mean these innovative approach in today’s environment.
What were your organization’s top IT
What wereover
priorities yourthe
organization’s top IT
past 12 months?
priorities over the past 12 months?
Adopting new technologies 38%
Reducing IT costs 38%
Reducing security risks 38%
Making employees more productive 35%
Delivering digital transformation 32%
Improving employee satisfaction 31%
Reducing data privacy risks 31%
Driving company growth 26%
Managing business continuity 26%
0% 10% 20% 30% 40%
Source: Snow Software, 2021 IT Priorities Survey
22 Snow SoftwareWhen looking at the next 12 months, IT leaders Ultimately, if this year has proven anything, it is
will need to contend with the decisions they made that IT leaders must be prepared for the things
in 2020 to adjust to the new normal. Significant you can’t prepare for. That means you need a solid
trends noted earlier in this report that will impact foundation on which you can pivot quickly when
2021 priorities include: the unexpected happens, which relies on having
complete visibility and manageability of your entire
1. Accelerating digital transformation. Over three- technology ecosystem.
quarters of IT leaders said the pace of digital
transformation has significantly increased in However, based on the responses from those
the past year, and it is unlikely to slow down surveyed, there may be some improvement
as organizations continue to adapt. And while required here to ensure an effective and efficient
adopting new technologies was tied as a top 2021. For example:
priority, implementing new technologies was
also IT’s second biggest challenge. This will • 41% of IT leaders strongly agree they can
be an area that needs extra attention and report on all technology use and spend across
governance. desktop, mobile, data center and cloud
2. Increased spend across the board. Rather than • 42% strongly agree they have clear visibility
simply reallocating budget, many organizations into cloud spend and can predictably stay on
had to quickly enable their employees to work budget
remotely, and then sustain that unplanned
investment for many months. Of course, this is • 38% strongly agree they can identify duplicate
at odds with priorities to reduce IT spend. With and overlapping functionality to optimize
the economy still struggling around the globe, technology spend
IT leaders will likely be asked to trim spend
without sacrificing employee productivity.
• 40% say they can confidently identify and
address known vulnerabilities across the entire
3. Risk from current events. These include IT ecosystem
a rise in cyberattacks, but also evolving
As we’ll explore in the next chapter, comprehensive
workplace practices and changing vendor
insight and understanding of the activities occurring
behavior. Managing vulnerabilities and training
across an organization’s IT environment plays a
employees will be key, but IT leaders will need
significant role in determining how to prioritize, and
to maintain a holistic approach to risk as they
ultimately solve for, competing business challenges.
deal with the fallout from 2020, both internally
and externally.
4. New employee challenges. Making employees
productive was just shy of the top three
priorities, coming in fourth at 35%. It is notable
that getting support for remote work was the
second biggest challenge for employees and
supporting remote work was the third biggest
challenge for IT leaders.
23 Snow SoftwareChapter VI The Technology Intelligence Imperative
For those respondents with a complete Leaders who strongly agreed with all six of these
understanding of how their technology investments statements passed the bar for a mature technology
impact the larger organization – what we consider intelligence program. When their survey responses
mature technology intelligence – there was a were compared to those who scored lower on the
notable correlation with operating an impactful IT maturity curve, some clear trends emerged. Overall,
program. those with mature technology intelligence were
better positioned to tackle their top priorities and
This year, 14% percent of IT leaders reported challenges.
that their organization had mature technology
intelligence. This assessment was based on their Beyond the statements used to determine
response to the following questions: technology intelligence maturity, there was only one
question where all the respondents either agreed
1. My organization can accurately report on all or strongly agreed. For those IT leaders who have
technology use and spend across desktop, a mature technology intelligence program, 100%
mobile, data center and cloud. said innovation was a strategic priority for their
2. My organization can identify and reassign organization versus 75% of other respondents.
unused software licenses, SaaS subscriptions It is not clear whether innovative companies have
and cloud services. strong technology intelligence, strong technology
intelligence is required to foster innovation or
3. My organization can identify duplicate a mixture of the two. However, the correlation
and overlapping functionality to optimize between the two elements is clear among those
technology spend. surveyed and ultimately impacts an organization’s
ability to deliver on the four key priorities emerging
4. My organization has clear visibility into cloud
for 2021.
spend and can predictably stay on budget.
5. My organization can quickly gather information
and confidently defend our position for vendor
audits.
6. My organization can identify and address known
vulnerabilities across the entire IT ecosystem.
Innovation is a strategic
priority for my organization.
Innovation is a strategic priority for my organization.
Mature Technology Intelligence Other Leaders
100%
80%
60%
40%
20%
0%
1 2 3 4 5
Strongly Strongly
Disagree Agree
Source: Snow Software, 2021 IT Priorities Survey
25 Snow SoftwareAdopting New Technologies
Closely related to innovation, implementing new technologies and ways of working is an area where leaders
with strong technology intelligence thrived. 82% of IT leaders with mature technology intelligence strongly
agreed that the pace of digital transformation had dramatically increased at their organization compared to
31% of IT respondents who lack a similar approach.
The
The pace
pace ofof digital
digital transformation
transformation has
has
dramatically
dramatically increased
increased atat
mymy organization.
organization.
Mature Technology Intelligence Other Leaders
100%
80%
60%
40%
20%
0%
1 2 3 4 5
Strongly Strongly
Disagree Agree
Source: Snow Software, 2021 IT Priorities Survey
Cloud maturity is also farther along for these IT leaders and their organizations: 58% have deployed
or mandated cloud services compared to 47% of their IT counterparts who are only just beginning to
implement and adopt.
How is your organization
currently using cloud services?
Level of cloud maturity
Mature Technology Intelligence Other Leaders
35
30
25
20
15
10
5
No plans Plans in place Opportunistically Systematically Deployed across Mandated and
implementing adopting organization optimized
Source: Snow Software, 2021 IT Priorities Survey
26 Snow SoftwareReducing Security Risk
One of the requirements for mature technology intelligence was vulnerability management – 100% of the
group said they strongly agreed they could identify and address known vulnerabilities across the entire IT
ecosystem. It is no surprise that the group exhibited a strong security posture in other areas as well.
Beyond vulnerability management, mature technology intelligence had a very significant correlation to
employee education on how to securely use technology – 98% agreed or strongly agreed that employees
received adequate training on all software, apps and cloud services they have access to.
Employees have
Employees have received
receivedadequate
adequate training on how
training to securely
on how to securely
use all the software, apps and cloud services they have access to
use all the software, apps and cloud services they have access to.
Mature Technology Intelligence Other Leaders
100%
80%
60%
40%
20%
0%
1 2 3 4 5
Strongly Strongly
Disagree Agree
Source: Snow Software, 2021 IT Priorities Survey
Investment in security tools stood out as well, with 75% of mature respondents saying they significantly
increased spend on security tools in the past 12 months versus just 34% of the rest. This combination of
tools, training and vulnerability management shows mature technology intelligence is associated with an
organization-wide commitment to security.
How has your organization's investment in
How has your organization’s investment in
security tools changed over the past 12 months?
security tools changed over the past 12 months?
Mature Technology Intelligence Other Leaders
100%
80%
60%
40%
20%
0%
1 2 3 4 5
Significantly Significantly
Decreased increased
Source: Snow Software, 2021 IT Priorities Survey
27 Snow SoftwareEnabling Employees
While ensuring employees are productive is always an important focus area for IT, 2020 put a whole new
emphasis on enablement with the unexpected shift to working remotely. As covered earlier, providing
support for remote work was the third biggest challenge for IT leaders, while getting sufficient support for
remote work was the second biggest challenge for employees.
When asked if employees have access to the technology they need to successfully do their job, the
net agreement showed just a 16-point difference. However, the vast majority of those with mature
technology intelligence strongly agreed (89%) compared to less than half of other respondents (40%).
This question may be indicative of the organization’s larger investment in both innovative technology and
employee enablement.
Employees have
Employees have access
access tosoftware,
to the the software,
apps andapps and
cloud services
cloud servicesthey need
they to successfully
need do theirdo
to successfully jobs
their jobs.
Mature Technology Intelligence Other Leaders
100%
80%
60%
40%
20%
1 2 3 4 5
Strongly Strongly
Disagree Agree
Source: Snow Software, 2021 IT Priorities Survey
While not as dramatic, a similar pattern appeared when asked whether or not IT leaders believed
employees were just as productive working remotely compared to working in the office. Here, 76% of
mature technology intelligence respondents strongly agreed compared to 35% of the rest.
Employees
Employees arearejust
just as productive
as productive working
remotely remotely
working as they are as
in the office.
they are in the office.
Mature Technology Intelligence Other Leaders
100%
80%
60%
40%
20%
0%
1 2 3 4 5
Strongly Strongly
Disagree Agree
Source: Snow Software, 2021 IT Priorities Survey
28 Snow SoftwareReducing IT Spend The ability to understand and optimize spend is a key component of technology intelligence – since these were among the required capabilities, 100% of IT leaders with mature technology intelligence reported they strongly agreed they could accurately report on spend, identify duplicate and overlapping functionality to optimize that spend and predictably stay on budget when it comes to cloud spend. Comparatively, 32% of other leaders strongly agreed that they could accurately report on spend and 32% strongly agreed they had clear visibility into cloud spend and could predictably stay on budget. Just 28% said they strongly agreed they could identify duplicate and overlapping functionality to optimize spend. Out of all six criteria, spend optimization had the lowest mean score for leaders without strong technology intelligence, indicating it is the most difficult step to achieve without comprehensive visibility and manageability in place. 29 Snow Software
Chapter VII Technology Intelligence & The New Normal
Mature technology intelligence is not just about technology intelligence strongly agreed compared
how IT leaders will embrace innovation and new to just 32% of their counterparts. Additionally,
technologies, it also impacts daily operations 81% of those with mature technology intelligence
and overall business strategy. When asked if their strongly agreed that the IT department has become
organization was prepared to weather current a more important resource compared to 12 months
global events, 79% of is
My organization IT leaders
preparedwithto
mature ago, versus 33% of other respondents.
weather current global events
My organization is prepared to weather current global events.
Mature Technology Intelligence Other Leaders
100%
80%
60%
40%
20%
1 2 3 4 5
Strongly Strongly
Disagree Agree
Source: Snow Software, 2021 IT Priorities Survey
For many organizations, Covid-19 has created an have always felt empowered and 17% said they feel
environment where any challenge, opportunity, more empowered than before. Compare that to
threat or weakness has to be considered through IT leaders without strong technology intelligence,
a “new normal” lens. When asked if they felt where only 29% have always felt empowered to
empowered during this pandemic, IT leaders with make strategic technology decisions and 35%
mature technology intelligence felt they were more indicating that they feel more empowered now
empowered to make the appropriate decisions or than before.
take the required action – 65% noted that they
During the Covid-19 pandemic, have you felt empowered to
During the Covid-19 pandemic, have you felt empowered to
make strategic technology decisions to support your
make strategic technology decisions to support your organization?
Mature Technology Intelligence Other Leaders
80%
60%
40%
20%
No, I have never No, I feel less Initially I felt I feel empowered Yes, I feel more Yes, I have always
felt empowered empowered empowered but but require empowered felt empowered
that has changed additional
approvals
Source: Snow Software, 2021 IT Priorities Survey
31 Snow SoftwareThe outcome of this empowerment may also remote work, they do form the digital backbone of
be reflected in how technology usage increased many organizations and have also been embracing
over the past 12 months. IT leaders with mature cloud in their own offerings. Regardless of whether
technology intelligence programs in place this reflects an increase in on-prem or cloud-
reported greater increases in the use of software, based usage, an overall acceleration in digital
applications and services that enable remote work transformation would likely drive increased usage
compared to other respondents. Interestingly, of these enterprise apps as well. Ultimately, it is
their use of enterprise software like SAP and all about feeling empowered to bring in the right
Oracle increased more as well. While these legacy technology to meet the needs of the business, in
vendors may not be associated with a shift to whatever form that may take.
Mature Technology
Other Leaders Difference
Intelligence
Communications software
59% 49% +10
(i.e. Slack, Microsoft Teams, Google Chat)
Video conferencing
55% 46% +9
(i.e. Zoom, Cisco WebEx, GoToMeeting)
Collaboration tools (i.e. Asana, Trello, Jira) 37% 28% +10
Cloud services (i.e. Amazon Web Services,
62% 51% +11
Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud Platform)
Specialty software
40% 32% +8
(i.e. Autodesk, Adobe, Workday, Salesforce)
Enterprise software (i.e. IBM, SAP, Oracle) 51% 38% +13
Source: Snow Software, 2021 IT Priorities Survey
32 Snow SoftwareThese complicated dependencies were at the remote workers. When it came to budget, issues
forefront when we asked IT leaders to consider included both the unexpected costs of enabling a
their single biggest challenge in the last 12 months remote workforce during the pandemic as well as
and explain why it was so difficult. Many answers unexpected cuts resulting from economic hardship.
highlighted just how intertwined Covid-19 has
become with IT’s standard challenges, and how Below are quotes directly from these IT leaders that
emmeshed those challenges have become with one highlight the complexities of the new normal. While
another. For example, those who listed enabling technology intelligence did not eliminate these
remote work as the biggest issue often referenced challenges, it does provide the insights needed
security or implementing new technology as part to successfully navigate them, highlighting the
of the problem. At the same time, those who benefits of a holistic approach to technology asset
listed security often referenced the difficulties of management.
maintaining a secure environment with so many
Biggest Challenge: Remote Work
“Supporting employees to work remotely is the biggest challenge over the past 12 months
because of the unprecedented demand due to Covid-19 and concerns about security
at staff homes. We made sure the IT department was trained to handle this situation as
smoothly as possible and required the staff to have up-to-date antivirus at home.”
“Nobody had expected a pandemic and we were therefore not prepared for the majority
of employees to work in the home office. We had to invest heavily in telephony as well as IT
security, especially endpoint security, at short notice.”
“The biggest challenge my company has faced in the last 12 months was dealing with
this whole Covid-19 situation, and how we had to keep our employees motivated and
productive even when they aren’t at the work site. At the start, it was a disaster. But as the
months went on and the situation became more and more understood, my employees have
adapted. Webex has made the whole situation much easier.”
“Having to shift a portion of our workforce to remote work. It was sudden and unexpected,
and incurred a lot of change, which cost money of course.”
“Change of working habits due to the pandemic, which required new technology plus faster
and more seamless use of cloud.”
33 Snow SoftwareBiggest Challenge: Security
“Data protection and security are a big concern when everyone is working from home.
Whilst IT has a level of control on what people can install on work supplied laptops, there
are issues when we aren’t able to exactly see what people are doing at home – who knows
exactly what they are using their laptop for. We have the measures and training in place but
it’s up to the individual to abide by them.”
“Security and business continuity issues arising from risk of malware was our greatest
challenge. Especially ransomware, possibly increased as a result of greater homeworking.
We have given all employees training on this and have increased our defenses too.”
“Cybersecurity was our biggest challenge. The transition to remote work facilities has
caused security headaches and exposed some vulnerabilities. These have been costly to
deal with, but the security systems in place seem to have thwarted the attacks. The main
threat was denial of service, closely followed by ransomware.”
“Our biggest challenge over the past 12 months was with cyber threats because our
cybersecurity budget was not sufficient to deal with the attacks we’ve suffered recently. I
have been asking for more funds to make our company more secure during this time.”
“Security and data privacy. Cloud technologies have become more important resource
for my organization, and we have needed to move to private and hybrid cloud more than
before. Yet the issue of cybersecurity has been a constant hinderance with handling these
new technologies.”
Biggest Challenge: New Technology
“Our biggest challenge is to implement new technologies across the company in the coming
months to adapt to the volatile environment and training the staff according to that.”
“Migrating between a range of collaboration tools mandated by a range of managers each
wanting to do their own thing with their workforce operating remotely.”
“We had to invest heavily in IT security tools at short notice, especially endpoint security, in
order to be able to continue to guarantee the protection of the company network. Nobody
expected a pandemic and we were therefore not prepared for the majority of employees to
work from home.”
34 Snow Software“Moving systems to the cloud while simultaneously supporting all users working remotely
was especially challenging.”
“Implementing new technology was the most challenging one. That is because the
technologies are changing day by day, and everyone is looking for the fastest and most
securable applications. Now everyone is wanting cloud-based applications to work from
mobile as well. But due to Covid-19 budget is very low, so it is even more difficult to
upgrade and improve our technologies.”
Biggest Challenge: IT Budget
“The biggest challenge has definitely been underfunding in the IT department due to
Covid-19. Having employees working remotely has taken a toll on our productivity as a
company and our business has had to cut aspects of our work to allow our company to
continue existing.”
“Biggest issue will be a significant reduction in IT budgets due to reduced company
revenues due to Covid. We are trying to save as much money as possible and are looking to
make as much use of hosted solutions as we can, moving away from on premise solutions
that require additional infrastructure.”
“The biggest challenge is budget cuts to keep operating cost and financial pressure down.
This is challenging as it is hard to keep maintaining the momentum needed to provide
a sufficient level of support. In order to mitigate this issue, I am automating most of the
activities that can be automated to optimize resources.”
“The budgeted money for the year wasn’t enough for the technology we really needed. This
was a great shock to everyone, and we had to use emergency funds to sort it out.”
“Budget cuts. This is especially challenging due to the pandemic and could have
detrimental repercussions in the long run.”
35 Snow SoftwareConclusion
It is clear that many of the IT challenges from 2020 will persist into next year. But when the calendar
turns over, many CIOs and IT leaders will have the advantage of planning and budgeting with these
challenges in mind. So, while difficult issues around digital transformation, employee enablement, risk
management and cost cutting won’t disappear, you will be able to draw on the lessons learned over
the past year to better prepare for what is ahead.
When considering your own 2021 plan, it will be critical to look at the convergence of four influential
factors:
• Your organization’s needs and priorities for IT
• Your IT department’s biggest challenges
• Your employees’ expectations of IT
• Larger trends in technology spend, usage and risk
As you map out these factors, hot spots will emerge that help guide your planning. Beyond setting
priorities, it is important to understand how you will achieve them. Given the current landscape
and lingering uncertainty, gaining better visibility and governance over your technology will be a
foundational part of delivering impactful IT in 2021.
That lingering uncertainty may be the most critical consideration of all. The most impactful takeaway
from 2020 isn’t necessarily the importance of enabling remote work or accelerating cloud adoption
– it is that IT leaders must always expect the unexpected. Delivering the toolset to pivot, adapt and
thrive is where technology intelligence can truly help your organization moving forward.
To get a customized report on the maturity of your own technology
intelligence, take our Technology Intelligence Assessment.
Start Now
To see how the Snow platform can provide complete insight
and governance over all your technology, request a demo.
Let’s Talk
37 Snow SoftwareAppendix
Methodology
A total of 4,000 surveys were completed online. The research was split evenly between four countries – the
US, UK, Germany and Australia. Two groups were surveyed in each country: 250 IT leaders who are a critical
part of the IT decision making process and 750 employees who use technology as part of their job.
IT Leader Demographics
ocation - IT Leaders Company Size - IT Leaders
Location - IT Leaders United States Company Size - IT Leaders Under 500 employees
United Kingdom 500-1,000 employees
Germany 1,001-5,000 employees
Australia 8% 5,001-10,000 employees
Over 10,000 employees
25% 25% 8%
33%
24%
25% 25%
26%
tle - IT Leaders
CIO / C-Level
VP / Managing Director
Title - IT Leaders
Director / Department Head
Manager
14%
8%
55%
17%
38 Snow Softwareole in Purchasing Decisions - IT Leaders Age - IT Leaders
Role in Purchasing Age
18-24
- IT Leaders
25-34 35-44 45-54 55-64 65+
Decisions - IT Leaders I am the sole decision maker
1%
I make the final decision with
input from staff and
management 5% 8%
I help reach the final decision
as part of a committee
26% 15%
31%
49%
25%
Age - IT Leaders
40%
18-24 25-34 35-44 45-54 55-64 65+
1%
5% 8%
15%
Employee Demographics 31%
ocation - IT Leaders
Location - Employees United States Company
40%
Size - Employees Under 500 employees
United Kingdom 500-1,000 employees
Germany 1,001-5,000 employees
Australia 5,001-10,000 employees
14%
Over 10,000 employees
25% 25%
9%
50%
14%
25% 25%
13%
39 Snow SoftwareTitle - Employees VP / Managing Department - Employees
Director /
Owner / Partner CEO / C-Level Director
Department Head IT / Engineering Support / Services HR
Manager Specialist Associate
Entry Level
Finance / Accounting Sales Marketing
3% Administration Other
6% 4%
3% 15%
6%
28%
10%
38%
22%
6%
13%
11%
3%
19% 13%
Owner / Partner CEO / C-Level VP / Managing Director IT / Engineering Support / Services HR
Director / Department Head Manager Specialist Finance / Accounting Sales Marketing
Associate Entry Level Administration Other
15%
28%
Age - Employees 10%
18-24 25-34 35-44 45-54 55-64 65+
3% 6%
12%
12%
13%
11%
3%
13%
18%
27%
28%
40 Snow SoftwareYou can also read
